Growth State Estimation Apparatus, Plant Management System, Growth State Estimation Method, Plant Management Method, and Non-Transitory Computer Readable Medium

The contents of the following patent application(s) are incorporated herein by reference: NO. 2023-047369 filed in JP on Mar. 23, 2023

The present invention relates to a growth state estimation apparatus, a plant management system, a growth state estimation method, a plant management method, and a program.

4 Patent Document 1 describes that a scan using a pulsed distance measuring light with two wavelengths having different reflectances relative to nitrogen contents is performed with a laser scanner; the two wavelengths are separated and the separated lights are received; a distance measurement value and an amount of light are detected for each pulsed distance measuring light and for each of the two wavelengths; height of a crop is detected based on the distance measurement value; a received light amount ratio for the two wavelengths is detected; and growth states of the crop are detected based on the detected height and the received light amount ratio.

Patent document 1: Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2022-54395

It is desirable to reduce a burden of processing to estimate a growth state of a plant.

A growth state estimation apparatus according to one aspect of the present invention may include an acquisition unit which acquires a first image including a plant captured at a first time point and a second image including the plant captured at a second time point after the first time point. The growth state estimation apparatus may include a specifying unit which specifies a same specific part of the plant from each of the first image and the second image. The growth state estimation apparatus may include an estimation unit which estimates a growth state of the plant by comparing a state of the same specific part included in each of the first image and the second image. The specific part of the plant may be a leaf, a stem, a fruit, or a flower.

The growth state estimation apparatus may further include a prediction unit which predicts a change, which is a change with passage of time from the first time point to the second time point, in a growth state of the same specific part, based on change information indicating a change in a growth state of a specific part in accordance with passage of time of the specific part.

The specifying unit may specify the same specific part from each of the first image and the second image, further based on a prediction result of the prediction unit. The prediction unit may specify a growth period of the plant at the first time point from an area of the specific part at the first time point, based on the change information. The prediction unit may predict predicts an area of the specific part of the plant when time has passed from the first time point to the second time point, based on the change information. The specifying unit may specify the same specific part from each of the first image and the second image, based on a prediction result of the prediction unit. The specifying unit may specify, from the second image, the same specific part as the specific part included in the first image by enlarging an area of the specific part in the first image to be an area based on the prediction result and performing pattern matching between the first image in which the specific part is enlarged and an image including at least one specific part in a predetermined region of the second image. The predetermined region may be a region in the second image corresponding to a region including the specific part of the first image and having a predetermined size. Alternatively, the specifying unit may derive, in the second image, an area of at least one specific part included in a predetermined region including a position where the specific part of the first image exists, and specify, from among the at least one specific part, a specific part having the predicted area of the specific part at the second time point, so as to specify the same specific part.

In any of the growth state estimation apparatuses, the estimation unit may estimate, as the growth state of the plant, a state of a physiological disorder of the plant or impairment caused by diseases and pests. The estimation unit may estimate a type of a physiological disorder of a specific part occurring in the plant by pattern matching an image for each type of a physiological disorder of a predetermined specific part with an image of the same specific part included in the first image and the second image.

In any of the growth state estimation apparatuses, the estimation unit may compare a state of the same specific part included in each of the first image and the second image, so as to specify a transition in a size of the same specific part and a transition in a size of an impaired part of the same specific part, and estimate, as the growth state of the plant, a progression degree of impairment of the same specific part, based on comparison of the transition in the size of the same specific part and the transition in the size of the impaired part of the same specific part.

In any of the growth state estimation apparatuses, the estimation unit may estimate, as the growth state of the plant, the progression degree of the impairment of the same specific part, based on a ratio of an increase rate in the size of the same specific part to an increase rate in the size of the impaired part of the same specific part from the first time point to the second time point.

The plant management system according to one aspect of the present invention may include: the growth state estimation apparatus; and an environmental control unit which controls environmental control equipment which controls environment in a plant factory where the plant is cultivated, according to a predetermined condition corresponding to an estimation result of the growth state of the plant by the estimation unit. The plant management system may further include an imaging apparatus which images the plant. The imaging apparatus may periodically image the plant at predetermined intervals in a same direction and at a same angle of view from a same position. The acquisition unit may acquire the first image and the second image from the imaging apparatus.

In the plant management system, the predetermined condition may indicate a relationship between a growth state of a specific part and at least one of a medium moisture content, an electrical conductivity, a hydrogen ion index, an ambient temperature of the specific part, humidity, an amount of light radiated to the specific part, or a carbon dioxide concentration.

The environmental control unit may control the environmental control equipment according to the predetermined condition, so as to adjust at least one of the medium moisture content, the electrical conductivity, the hydrogen ion index, the ambient temperature of the specific part, the humidity, the amount of light radiated to the specific part, or the carbon dioxide concentration.

The estimation unit may estimate, as the growth state of the plant, a type of a physiological disorder of the plant, and the environmental control unit may control the environmental control equipment according to a predetermined control content corresponding to the estimated type of the physiological disorder of the plant. The environmental control equipment may include air conditioning equipment which adjusts at least one of a temperature or humidity in the plant factory, air blowing equipment which controls at least one of a wind volume or a wind direction of wind supplied into the plant factory, a light source equipment which has a light source which radiates artificial light to the plant, and a nutrient solution supply equipment which adjusts a fertilizer concentration and supplies, to the plant, a nutrient solution with the fertilizer concentration adjusted. When the estimation unit estimates, as a physiological disorder of the plant, that tip burn is progressing, the environmental control unit may control the nutrient solution supply equipment so that a content of calcium contained in the nutrient solution increases, control the light source equipment in order to reduce an amount of light of the light source, control the air conditioning equipment in order to lower the temperature in the plant factory, or control the air blowing equipment to increase the wind volume of the wind supplied into the plant factory, in order to lower the temperature in the plant factory.

A growth state estimation method according to one aspect of the present invention may include acquiring a first image including a plant captured at a first time point and a second image including the plant captured at a second time point after the first time point. The growth state estimation method may include specifying a same specific part of the plant from each of the first image and the second image. The growth state estimation method may include estimating a growth state of the plant by comparing a state of the same specific part included in each of the first image and the second image.

A plant management method according to one aspect of the present invention may include acquiring a first image including a plant captured at a first time point and a second image including the plant captured at a second time point after the first time point. The plant management method may include specifying a same specific part of the plant from each of the first image and the second image. The plant management method may include estimating a growth state of the plant by comparing a state of the same specific part included in each of the first image and the second image. The plant management method may include controlling environmental control equipment which controls environment in a plant factory where the plant is cultivated, according to a predetermined condition corresponding to an estimation result of the growth state of the plant.

A program according to one aspect of the present invention may cause a computer to perform acquiring a first image including a plant captured at a first time point and a second image including the plant captured at a second time point after the first time point. The program may cause the computer to perform specifying a same specific part of the plant from each of the first image and the second image. The program may cause the computer to perform estimating a growth state of the plant by comparing a state of the same specific part included in each of the first image and the second image.

The summary clause does not necessarily describe all necessary features of the embodiments of the present invention. The present invention may also be a sub-combination of the features described above.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described through embodiments of the invention, but the following embodiments do not limit the invention according to claims. In addition, not all of the combinations of features described in the embodiments are essential to the solution of the invention.

1 FIG. 30 10 20 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 40 50 60 70 80 is a diagram showing an example of a functional block of an overall configuration of a plant management system according to the present embodiment. The plant management system manages a growth state of a plantthat is cultivated in a plant factory. The plant management system includes a cultivation rack, light source equipment, nutrient solution supply equipment, carbon dioxide supply equipment, air conditioning equipment, air blowing equipment, an imaging apparatus, and a plant management apparatus. The light source equipment, the nutrient solution supply equipment, the carbon dioxide supply equipment, the air conditioning equipment, and the air blowing equipmentare examples of environmental control equipment.

20 30 40 42 30 42 42 20 10 10 30 The cultivation rackcultivates the plantsuch as a vegetable, a fruit, or a fresh flower. The light source equipmentincludes a plurality of light sourcessuch as LEDs or incandescent lamps that radiate artificial light, and radiates the artificial light to the plantfrom each of the plurality of light sources. The plurality of light sourcesmay be arranged to face a cultivation surface of the cultivation rack. The plant factoryin the present embodiment is an artificial light type plant factory. However, the plant factorymay be a solar light type plant factory where the plantis cultivated by using solar light as a light source.

50 52 54 20 52 54 50 30 50 30 30 50 30 20 20 50 The nutrient solution supply equipmenthas a pumpand a pipe, and supplies, to the cultivation rackvia the pumpand the pipe, a nutrient solution containing each of fertilizer components such as potassium or calcium. The nutrient solution supply equipmentappropriately adjusts a fertilizer concentration, and supplies, to the plant, the nutrient solution with the adjusted fertilizer concentration. The nutrient solution supply equipmentmay supply the nutrient solution to the plantby atomizing the nutrient solution with the adjusted fertilizer concentration and spraying the atomized nutrient solution onto a root part of the plant. The nutrient solution supply equipmentmay function as irrigation equipment that supplies water to a medium in which the plantis cultivated. An amount of irrigation that is supplied to the cultivation rackmay be adjusted by adjusting an amount of the nutrient solution that is supplied to the cultivation rackfrom the nutrient solution supply equipment.

60 62 64 62 60 62 10 64 The carbon dioxide supply equipmenthas a tankand a nozzle. The tankstores carbon dioxide. The carbon dioxide supply equipmentsupplies carbon dioxide stored in the tank, into the plant factoryvia the nozzle.

70 10 80 10 The air conditioning equipmentcontrols a temperature and humidity of an air in the plant factory, and circulates the air of which the temperature and the humidity are controlled, within an indoor space. The air blowing equipmentincludes a circulator or a fan that supplies a wind into the plant factory.

90 32 30 90 32 30 90 30 20 90 10 90 32 30 90 90 32 30 90 32 30 90 32 30 The imaging apparatusimages a leafof the plant. The imaging apparatusperiodically images the leafof the plantat predetermined intervals. The imaging apparatusmay be provided in the vicinity of each plantcultivated on the cultivation rack. Alternatively, the imaging apparatusmay be provided in a mobile robot moving in the plant factory. The imaging apparatusperiodically images the leafof the plantat the predetermined intervals in the same direction and at the same angle of view from the same position. Even in a case where the imaging apparatusis provided on the mobile robot, the mobile robot controls the posture of the imaging apparatusto periodically image the leafof the plantat the predetermined intervals in the same direction and at the same angle of view from the same position. The mobile robot may be a mobile object such as a vehicle, a flying vehicle, or a ship. In the present embodiment, the description will be given about an example in which the imaging apparatusimages the leafof the plant, but the parts imaged by the imaging apparatusmay be other specific parts, such as a stem, a fruit, or a flower other than the leaf, of the plant.

100 30 40 50 60 70 80 100 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 The plant management apparatuscontrols the growth state of the plantby controlling the light source equipment, the nutrient solution supply equipment, the carbon dioxide supply equipment, the air conditioning equipment, and the air blowing equipment. The plant management apparatuscommunicates with the light source equipment, the nutrient solution supply equipment, the carbon dioxide supply equipment, the air conditioning equipment, the air blowing equipment, and the imaging apparatus, via a wireless network or a wired network. The plant management apparatusis an example of a growth state estimation apparatus.

100 40 50 60 70 80 The plant management apparatusmay be a computer having a central processing unit (CPU) and a memory. The light source equipment, the nutrient solution supply equipment, the carbon dioxide supply equipment, the air conditioning equipment, and the air blowing equipmentmay include the computers having the central processing units (CPU) and the memories.

100 40 50 60 70 80 The computer may be a computer such as a personal computer, a tablet type computer, a smartphone, a workstation, a server computer, or a general purpose computer, or may be a computer system in which a plurality of computers are connected. Such a computer system is also a computer in a broad sense. The computer may be a dedicated computer designed for an environmental control of a plant factory, or may be dedicated hardware realized by dedicated circuitry. The computer may be implemented by a virtual computer environment. When the computer is used, the plant management apparatus, the light source equipment, the nutrient solution supply equipment, the carbon dioxide supply equipment, the air conditioning equipment, and the air blowing equipmentare realized by executing a program by the computer.

2 FIG. 100 100 102 104 106 108 110 120 is a diagram showing an example of a functional block of the plant management apparatus. The plant management apparatusincludes an acquisition unit, a specifying unit, a prediction unit, an estimation unit, an environmental control unit, and a storage unit.

102 90 102 1 30 90 1 2 30 90 2 1 1 2 30 The acquisition unitperiodically acquires images captured by the imaging apparatusat predetermined intervals. The acquisition unitacquires an image Gincluding the plantcaptured by the imaging apparatusat a time point T, and an image Gincluding the plantcaptured by the imaging apparatusat a time point Tafter the time point T. A period from the time point Tto the time point Tmay be any period, such as one hour, one day, one week, or ten days, corresponding to the growth rate of the plant.

104 30 1 2 30 30 104 32 1 2 106 1 2 32 1 2 120 3 FIG. The specifying unitspecifies the same specific part of the plantfrom each of the image Gand the image G. The specific part of the plantmay be a leaf, a stem, a fruit, or a flower. In the present embodiment, as the specific part, the leaf of the plantare described in detail. That is, the specifying unitspecifies the same leaffrom each of the image Gand the image G. The prediction unitpredicts a change, which is a change with the passage of time from the time point Tto the time point T, in the growth state of the same leafincluded in the image Gand the image G, based on change information indicating a change in the growth state of the leaf with the passage of time of the leaf. For example, as shown in, the change information may be information indicating the area of the leaf corresponding to the growth period. The change information may be derived by measuring the area of the leaf for each growth period by experiments or the like in advance, and may be stored in the storage unit.

106 1 30 1 1 32 1 106 2 32 1 2 106 104 104 32 1 2 104 1 1 2 2 32 2 Based on the change information, the prediction unitspecifies the growth period Tof the plantat the time point Gfrom an area Sof the leafat the time point G. Further, the prediction unitpredicts the area Sof the leafwhen time has passed from the time point Gto the time point G, based on the change information. The prediction unitprovides a prediction result to the specifying unit. The specifying unitspecifies the same leaffrom each of the image Gand the image G, based on the prediction result. For example, the specifying unitenlarges the leaf of the area Sin the image Gto generate an image of the leaf of the area S, and performs pattern matching between the image and an image of at least one leaf in a predetermined region of the image G, so as to specify the same leaffrom the image G.

2 32 1 104 1 1 2 2 32 The predetermined region is a region in the image Gcorresponding to a predetermined size of region including the leafin the image G. Alternatively, the specifying unitderives the area of at least one leaf included within a predetermined region, which includes a position where the area Sof the leaf exists in the image G, in the image Gand specifies the area Sof the leaf from among the at least one leaf, so as to specify the same leaf.

108 30 32 1 2 108 30 30 108 30 30 The estimation unitestimates the growth state of the plantby comparing the state of the same leafincluded in each of the image Gand the image G. The estimation unitestimates, as the growth state of the plant, whether the plantis in a healthy state. The estimation unitestimates, as the growth state of the plant, the state of the physiological disorder of the plantor the impairment caused by diseases and pests.

108 32 1 2 32 32 32 32 The estimation unitmay compare the state of the same leafincluded in each of the image Gand the image G, so as to specify a transition in the size of the same leafand a transition in the size of the impaired part of the same leaf, and estimate, as the growth state of the plant, the progression degree of the impairment of the same leaf, based on the comparison of the transition in the size of the same leafand the transition in the size of the impaired part of the same leaf.

32 1 2 32 108 30 32 Based on a ratio of an increase rate in the size (area) of the same leaffrom the time point Gto the time point Gto an increase rate in the size (area) of the impaired part of the same leaf, the estimation unitmay estimate, as the growth state of the plant, the progression degree of the impairment of the same leaf.

108 34 32 1 1 1 32 3 34 108 34 32 2 2 2 32 4 34 108 4 3 34 2 1 32 108 30 4 FIG.A 4 FIG.B For example, the estimation unitspecifies the impaired partfrom the leafin the image Gof the time point Tas shown in, and derives the area Sof the leafand the area Sof the impaired part. Further, the estimation unitspecifies the impaired partfrom the leafin the image Gof the time point Tas shown in, and derives the area Sof the leafand the area Sof the impaired part. The estimation unitderives a ratio R of an increase rate S/Sof the impaired partto an increase rate S/Sof the leaf. The estimation unitestimates the growth state of the plantby specifying the progression degree of the impairment corresponding to the ratio R, based on relational information indicating a relationship between the ratio of the increase rate of the impaired part to the increase rate of the leaf and the progression degree of the impairment.

110 10 30 30 108 30 108 110 40 50 60 70 80 The environmental control unitcontrols the environmental control equipment which controls the environment in the plant factorywhere the plantis cultivated, according to a predetermined condition corresponding to the estimation result of the growth state of the plantby the estimation unit. According to the predetermined condition corresponding to the estimation result of the growth state of the plantby the estimation unit, the environmental control unitmay control at least one of the light source equipment, the nutrient solution supply equipment, the carbon dioxide supply equipment, the air conditioning equipment, or the air blowing equipment.

110 110 40 50 60 70 80 The predetermined condition may indicate a relationship between the growth state of the leaf and at least one of a medium moisture content, an electrical conductivity, a hydrogen ion index, the ambient temperature of the leaf, humidity, the amount of light radiated to the leaf, or the carbon dioxide concentration. The environmental control unitmay control the environmental control equipment according to the predetermined condition, so as to adjust at least one of the medium moisture content, the electrical conductivity, the hydrogen ion index, the ambient temperature of the leaf, the humidity, the amount of light radiated to the leaf, or the carbon dioxide concentration. The environmental control unitmay control at least one of the light source equipment, the nutrient solution supply equipment, the carbon dioxide supply equipment, the air conditioning equipment, or the air blowing equipmentaccording to the predetermined condition, so as to adjust at least one of the medium moisture content, the electrical conductivity, the hydrogen ion index, the ambient temperature of the leaf, the humidity, the amount of light radiated to the leaf, or the carbon dioxide concentration.

108 30 120 32 1 2 120 40 50 60 70 80 110 32 120 40 50 60 70 80 A countermeasure to suppress the physiological disorder for each type of leaf physiological disorders are known empirically. In addition, the estimation unitmay estimate the type of a leaf physiological disorder occurring in the plantby performing pattern matching between the image of each type of leaf physiological disorders stored in the storage unitin advance and the image of the same leafincluded in the image Gand the image G. The storage unitmay stores, for each type of physiological disorders, the control contents of at least one of the light source equipment, the nutrient solution supply equipment, the carbon dioxide supply equipment, the air conditioning equipment, or the air blowing equipment. The environmental control unitmay specify the control contents corresponding to the estimated type of the physiological disorder of the leafby referring to the storage unit, and control, according to the specified control contents, at least one of the light source equipment, the nutrient solution supply equipment, the carbon dioxide supply equipment, the air conditioning equipment, or the air blowing equipment.

32 110 50 110 40 42 110 70 10 10 110 80 10 For example, when the tip burn due to calcium deficiency as the physiological disorder of the leafis progressing, the environmental control unitmay control the nutrient solution supply equipmentso as to increase the content of calcium contained in a nutrient solution. Alternatively, the environmental control unitmay control the light source equipmentin order to reduce the amount of light of the light source. The environmental control unitmay control the air conditioning equipmentin order to lower the temperature in the plant factory. In order to lower the temperature in the plant factoryefficiently, the environmental control unitmay control the air blowing equipmentto increase the wind volume of wind supplied into the plant factory.

120 100 100 102 104 106 108 110 The storage unitstores a program which operates on the plant management apparatus. The program is executed on the processor included in the plant management apparatus, so as to cause the processor to function as the acquisition unit, the specifying unit, the prediction unit, the estimation unit, and the environmental control unit.

5 FIG. 30 is a flowchart showing an example of a procedure of the estimation of a growth state of the plantand the environmental control corresponding to the growth state.

102 1 1 2 2 90 100 106 1 2 32 1 2 102 The acquisition unitacquires the image Gof the time point Tand the image Gof the time point Twhich are captured by the imaging apparatus(S). The prediction unitpredicts a change, which is a change with the passage of time from the time point Tto the time point T, in the growth state of the same leafincluded in the image Gand the image G, based on change information indicating a change in the growth state of the leaf with the passage of time of the leaf (S).

104 32 1 2 104 108 32 32 1 2 106 32 108 30 108 The specifying unitspecifies the same leaffrom each of the image Gand the image G, based on the prediction result (S). The estimation unitdetermines whether impairment occurs in the leafby determining whether the leafin the image Gand the image Gincludes the predetermined image portion corresponding to the impairment (S). If it is determined that no impairment occurs in the leaf, the estimation unitestimates that the plantis in a healthy state (S).

32 108 32 1 2 32 32 30 32 32 110 If it is determined that impairment occurs in the leaf, the estimation unitcompares the state of the same leafincluded in each of the image Gand the image G, so as to specify a transition in the size of the same leafand a transition in the size of the impaired part of the same leaf, and estimates, as the growth state of the plant, the progression degree of the impairment of the same leaf, based on the comparison of the transition in the size of the same leafand the transition in the size of the impaired part of the same leaf (S).

108 110 40 50 60 70 80 30 112 Next, based on the estimation result by the estimation unit, the environmental control unitcontrols at least one environmental control equipment of the light source equipment, the nutrient solution supply equipment, the carbon dioxide supply equipment, the air conditioning equipment, or the air blowing equipment, so as to cause the plantto be in a predetermined growth state (S).

30 90 According to the present embodiment above, it is possible to specify a specific part such as the same leaf of the plantbetween images captured at different time points and to estimate the growth state of the plant, based on a change in the specific part such as the same leaf. Therefore, the burden of processing to estimate the growth state of plant can be reduced. In addition, when the imaging apparatusis prepared, it is possible to estimate the growth state of the plant, for example, the progression degree of the physiological disorder of the plant or the impairment caused by diseases and pests and thus to perform environmental control more accurately, so that the growth state of the plant is improved at low cost.

6 FIG. 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1212 1200 shows an example of a computerin which an aspect of the present embodiment may be entirely or partially embodied. Programs installed in the computercan cause the computerto function as operations associated with the apparatus according to the embodiments of the present invention or one or more “units” of the apparatus. Alternatively, the programs can cause the computerto execute the operations or the one or more “units”. The programs can cause the computerto execute a process according to the embodiments of the present invention or steps of the process. Such programs may be executed by a CPUto cause the computerto perform specific operations associated with some or all of the blocks in the flowcharts and block diagrams described in the present specification.

1200 1212 1214 1210 1200 1222 1210 1220 1200 1230 1212 1230 1214 The computeraccording to the present embodiment includes the CPUand a RAM, which are mutually connected by a host controller. The computeralso includes a communication interfaceand an input/output unit, which are connected to the host controllervia an input/output controller. The computeralso includes a ROM. The CPUoperates according to the programs stored in the ROMand the RAM, thereby controlling each unit.

1222 1212 1200 1230 1200 1200 1214 1230 1212 1200 1200 The communication interfacecommunicates with other electronic devices via a network. A hard disk drive may store the programs and data used by the CPUin the computer. The ROMstores therein boot programs or the like executed by the computerat the time of activation, and/or stores programs depending on hardware of the computer. The programs are provided via a computer readable storage medium such as CR-ROM, a USB memory or an IC Card, or a network. The programs are installed on the RAM, which also is an example of the computer readable storage medium, or the ROMand performed by the CPU. Information processing written in these programs is read by the computer, and provides cooperation between the programs and the various types of hardware resources described above. An apparatus or a method may be configured by implementing operations or processing of information according to a use of the computer.

1200 1212 1214 1222 1212 1222 1214 For example, in a case where a communication is performed between the computerand an external device, the CPUmay execute a communication program loaded in the RAMand instruct the communication interfaceto perform communication processing based on a process written in the communication program. Under the control of the CPU, the communication interfacereads transmission data which is stored in the RAMor a transmission buffer region which is provided in a storage media such as a USB memory, to transmit the read transmission data to the network or write the reception data received from the network into a reception buffer region or the like provided on the storage media.

1212 1214 1214 1212 Also, the CPUmay cause the whole or required part of files which are stored in the external storage media (such as USB memory) or the database to be read by the RAM, to perform a various type of processes for the data on the RAM. Then, the CPUmay write back the processed data to the external storage media.

1212 1214 1214 1212 1212 A various type of information such as a various type of programs, data, tables and databases may be stored in a storage media to undergo information processing. The CPUmay execute, on the data read from the RAM, various types of processing including various types of operations, information processing, conditional judgement, conditional branching, unconditional branching, information retrieval/replacement, or the like described throughout the present disclosure and specified by instruction sequences of the programs, to write the results back to the RAM. Also, the CPUmay retrieve information in the file, database, or the like in the storage media. For example, when a plurality of entries each having an attribute value of the first attribute associated with an attribute value of the second attribute are stored in a storage media, the CPUmay retrieve, among the plurality of entries, an entry whose attribute value of the first attribute is specified and matches the conditions and read the attribute value of the second attribute stored in the entry, thereby acquiring the attribute value of the second attribute associated with the first attribute which satisfies a predetermined condition.

1200 1200 1200 The programs or software module described above may be stored on the computeror in a computer readable storage medium near the computer. In addition, a storage medium such as a hard disk or a RAM provided in a server system connected to a dedicated communication network or the Internet can be used as a computer readable storage media, thereby providing the program to the computervia the network.

A computer readable medium may include any tangible device that can store instructions to be executed by a suitable device. As a result, the computer readable medium having instructions stored therein includes an article of manufacture including instructions which can be executed to create means for performing operations specified in the flowcharts or block diagrams.

Examples of the computer readable medium may include an electronic storage medium, a magnetic storage medium, an optical storage medium, an electromagnetic storage medium, a semiconductor storage medium, and the like. Specific examples of the computer readable medium may include a floppy (Registered Trademark) disk, a diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or Flash memory), an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM (Registered Trademark)), a static random access memory (SRAM), a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), a digital versatile disc (DVD), a Blu-ray (registered trademark) disc, a memory stick, an integrated circuit card, or the like.

The computer readable instructions may include either source code or object code written in any combination of one or more programming languages. The source code or the object code includes a conventional procedural programming language. The conventional procedural programming language may be assembler instructions, instruction-set-architecture (ISA) instructions, machine instructions, machine dependent instructions, microcode, firmware instructions, state-setting data, or an object oriented programming language such as Smalltalk (registered trademark), JAVA (registered trademark), C++, etc., and programming languages, such as the “C” programming language or similar programming languages. The computer readable instructions may be provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing device, or to programmable circuitry, locally or via a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN) such as the Internet, etc. The processor or the programmable circuitry may execute the computer readable instructions in order to create means for performing operations specified in the flowcharts or block diagrams. Examples of the processor include a computer processor, a processing unit, a microprocessor, a digital signal processor, a controller, a microcontroller, and the like.

While the present invention has been described by way of the embodiments, the technical scope of the present invention is not limited to the above described embodiments. It is apparent to persons skilled in the art that various alterations or improvements can be made to the above described embodiments. It is also apparent from the description of the claims that embodiments added with such alterations or improvements can be included in the technical scope of the present invention.

The operations, procedures, steps, and stages of each process performed by an apparatus, system, program, and method shown in the claims, embodiments, or diagrams can be performed in any order as long as the order is not indicated by “prior to,” “before,” or the like and as long as the output from a previous process is not used in a later process. Even if the process flow is described using phrases such as “first” or “next” in the claims, embodiments, or diagrams, it does not necessarily mean that the process must be performed in this order.

10 : plant factory; 20 cultivation rack; 30 : plant; 32 : leaf; 34 : impaired part 40 : light source equipment; 42 : light source; 50 : nutrient solution supply equipment; 52 : pump; 54 : pipe; 60 : carbon dioxide supply equipment; 62 : tank; 64 : nozzle; 70 : air conditioning equipment; 80 : air blowing equipment; 90 : imaging apparatus 100 : plant management apparatus; 102 : acquisition unit; 104 : specifying unit 106 : prediction unit 108 : estimation unit 110 : environmental control unit; 120 : storage unit; 1200 : computer; 1210 : host controller; 1212 : CPU; 1214 : RAM; 1220 : input/output controller; 1222 : communication interface; 1230 : ROM.